Saturday Morning Cartoons

Kobabe, Maia and Shikumar, Lucky. Opting Out

May 5, 2026 by Graphix

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Saachi lives with her parents, Krishnan and Rukmani, and her younger sister, Samaira. Her parents are supportive, even is Saachi doesn't like that they occasionally make her take care of her sister. She spends a lot of time with her best friend Lyla, but as seventh grade starts, Saachi doesn't like the fact that many of the boys and girls in her class are pairing up and "going out". When she gets her period, she's even more miserable, since she refuses to tell her mother, who might help her get proper supplies. She and Lyla are big fans of a fantasy book series, but Lyla isn't as interested in it as she used to be, and Saachi is more comfortable playing with Samaira and her friends. Saachi fights twice with Isaac, a boy in her class whom she thinks bullies her, and is suspended for three days after stabbing him with a sword key chain. She would like to be a writer, and journals frequently. After her parents get her a subscription to a teen writing magazine, she even submits some poems, but gets rejected. Middle School is hard to navigate at the best of times, and since Saachi suspects she may be nonbinary, it's even harder. She fights with Lyla over a misunderstanding, comes to find that Isaac is someone with whom she actually gets along, and tells her parents about her gender identity journey only to find that they are still very supportive. 

This is another middle grade graphic novel that has elements of a memoir, like Hale's Real Friends and Scrivan's Nat Enough books. I love the Hindu representation, but wish there had been a little more explanation about some aspects of it for my students who have never known anyone from that culture. This seems to be set in the modern day, but there are some things that seemed very 1990s to me, like Saachi sending in poem submissions and getting paper rejection letters mailed to her. 
 

Amato, J.D. and Morse, Sophie (illus.) The Endless Game 
April 28, 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In the summer of 1998, Fred's family moves to Lakeside. His mother is trying to find a teaching job while taking care of his younger sister Ellie, and his father is finishing up work elsewhere before joining them. Fred approaches a neighbor his age, Rusty, who acts a bit oddly, telling Fred he has to make sure he's not a spy. Fred is taken to Downhill Castle, where children from his neighborhood are involved in a weirdly intense game of capture the flag with the kids from the Uphill neighborhood. They have a large building for their headquarters, and very strict rules about how the game works. A council of homeschooled children make final decisions. One of the interesting rules is that if someone is tagged, they have to report to the jail run by the other side every day until someone breaks them out or the new school year starts! The parents know about this, and abide by the rules even if it means not sending their child to a summer program for which they have already paid, since the game has been going on for 75 years. The Downhill team is angry that they have lost their king, Mike, who was arrested for graffiti and sent to stay with his grandmother in Montana for the summer, with King Raquel taking his place. Fred and the other children are investigating and trying to exonerate their ruler. The Uphill team is led by Jamie Crown, whose parents are wealthy and influential. He cheats at the bike race and is generally unpleasant. Will the Downhill team be able to hold their own and perhaps get Mike back in the game?

I love to see Kids Doing Things, but I'm glad this was set in 1998. I can't see kids today being allowed this much freedom, and phones would ruin everything, especially the carrying of paper messages. Part of me thinks that this would be a really fun way to spend a summer, but I felt bad for the kids who were tagged and had to spend their summer in jail. I half expected a note at the end of this, explaining some of the facets of the game. The maps are a nice touch. I can see this graphic novel being popular with readers who enjoyed Sells' Cardboard Kingdom.